After the death of Phil Harris, a memorial gathering was held in his honor. Different captains began to rattle off funny stories related to Harris, including Andy Hillstrand recalling the late captain forcing him to smoke his very first cigarette, as well as Keith Colburn telling a tale of being chewed out by him. However, one of the best stories told on that stage came from Johnathan Hillstrand, who explained that when it was time for Harris’s funeral, he led the way towards the wrong cemetery.
While the “Deadliest Catch” captains were taking turns reminiscing about Harris, Johnathan Hillstrand detailed the mishap. “When we buried him, the actual burial of his ashes, we went to the wrong graveyard,” he admitted. Reacting to the audience’s laughter that came from the story, Hillstrand assumed Harris had a similar reaction from the afterlife. “That son of a b**** is going, ‘you dumb … you stupid …’,” he joked. “He was loving it!” Hillstrand finished up explaining that the long procession of cars continued following him all the way to the wrong graveyard.
That wasn’t the only humorous tidbit these captains gifted fans and family members during the memorial. For example, Hillstrand also giggled about the fact that he would sometimes need to wait for Harris to finish Animal Planet shows such as “Meerkat Manor” and Orangutan Island,” before they could head out to their destination. Or Sig Hansen’s story about Harris hiring a housekeeper just for his small trailer-home. All these special memories, in addition to what fans saw on TV, prove that Captain Phil Harris truly captured the love and affection of just about anyone who was lucky enough to know him.
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